Clock is ticking away. This is time in Larnaka

In the Middle East when someone says 'boukrah' [literally 'tomorrow'] they don't mean it. They mean 'soon'. When someone asks me when I will be home I usually say 'I won't be long…' meaning… well those who know me know the answer is rather too Middle Eastern for their liking!

But as I sit here writing my missives to the world, the question which has perplexed me for years remains... will I ever belong?

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Monday, June 30, 2008

Summer slowdown... not!

For almost a week we were chasing round trying to record extra video inserts and printing leaflets on our laser printer and getting other leaflets printed by the local printer. Why? Lots of the people are leaving for some weeks for the summer.

First to go was Sue and Tim. Tim is starting another university course and Sue went with him to help settle him in. Then two days later Peter and his family left for 6 weeks... then the following day Paula and her family left for 8 weeks. Then... summer started... the following day I am told it hit 40C... and guests arrived from Egypt for 10 days.

So I am left 'holding the baby' for 3 weeks. And today one of our main servers crashed. It appears one of the fans may be faulty so I will have to replace it before too long. Peter had been doing more of the technical stuff recently which had relieved me from that chore. But he has been finding it very much too much of a chore and so we want to find a 'interesting' task for him when he gets back in August. After that is he runs a beginners System Administration for Linux servers course, starting the day after he returns!

Today a colleague flies in from another country and we will be discussing the stories he is writing [50 short stories] which will eventually become a series of 10-12 short video programmes. He will also be proof checking a new version of the Gospel we are publishing. It's not enough for it to be readable, even all the diacritics have to be correct for Arabic. He'll also be helping lay it out for internet and PDF files.

Alongside doing some graphic design for that project and supervising it, I am trying to get a new audio and video chat system going for one of our websites. I haven't done anything on this yet and it needs to be running asap... and certainly before I go to the UK for a couple of weeks in mid July.

Alongside that I am trying to get things ready for a new programmer who will be joining us in August. He is coming on the System Administration course that Peter is running then I will have him for a week to brief him on a major website he will be programming for us.

Alongside that I need to chase up a grant application for funding from the USA... which seems to have gone very quiet.

Alongside that I need to evaluate and plan to meet people in Wolverhampton about a new database system we are considering.

And of course with Sue away I am looking after the house, cats, guests...

Our biggest need right now is for more people. I keep getting encouraged to spend more time doing people related things. And I would like to, but there are tasks that cannot be ignored so I cannot spend the time I would like on people related things.

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About me

I'm one of those strange media guys who during the first gulf war when the CNN reporters were stuck in Baghdad were wishing I was there with them. I guess there's no hope for me, I'm a sold out media person! I joined the BBC straight from school at age 18 and have been doing different media projects ever since. That's my love, my passion. When the aim is to communicate the truth about God then the passion is multiplied. So, here I am...